Expo Center Proposed For Las Vegas Market Site

The city of Las Vegas and International Market Centers, which owns and operates the Las Vegas World Market Center, have proposed the construction of a new 350,000-square-foot expo center in downtown Las Vegas adjacent to the World Market Center.

The Las Vegas City Council has scheduled a vote on the proposal for its April 4 meeting.

The site selected for the proposed multi-use facility is at 445 South Grand Central Parkway on the nearly 60-acre World Market Center campus, which currently consists of three interconnected showroom buildings. They incorporate more than five million square feet of permanent showroom space, a parking garage, and three pavilion temporary exhibit structures.

The new state-of-the-art exhibition and meeting space would establish a downtown Las Vegas site for large-scale trade shows, conventions and other exhibitions that the existing event venues can’t accommodate. The expo center could also be used to host elements of the bi-annual furniture, gift and home décor focused Las Vegas Market, which brings some 100,000 visitors to the city. In addition, IMC will offer the Expo Center for a set number of days throughout the year to host non-profit events as designated by the Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency.

At peak occupancy, IMC stated, expectations are that the expo center would generate $97 million in annual visitor spending in downtown Las Vegas, and $234 million in the broader Southern Nevada area. Cost of the expo center as estimated, should come in at $76 million. As per the proposal, the city of Las Vegas would contribute $30 million to the project through a tax increment financing note. The proposal calls for construction to begin within the next 12 to 18 months and to take approximately 18 months to complete.

“We have been working closely with International Market Centers for some time on this proposal and believe it will fill a need in the downtown area, especially with the closing of Cashman Center,” said Bill Arent, Las Vegas Economic and Urban Development Department director. “We look forward to presenting this proposal to the city council.”

The Cashman Center, which closed late last year, had operated as a sports, theater and meeting facility in Las Vegas.

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